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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24370198">Somethin' Like Fire</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thirivm/pseuds/Thirivm'>Thirivm</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>VALORANT (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Battle, Gender-neutral Reader, Minor Injuries, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 11:16:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,801</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24370198</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thirivm/pseuds/Thirivm</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>You turn away from the initial blast of light and heat that the flaming wall brings, but just as quickly your shoulders slump with a heavy relief. Light footsteps approach you, but these footsteps are warm and familiar, and you smile brightly as Phoenix strides around the nearby corner and into your view.</p><p>“Sittin’ around playin’ with Cypher when we’ve still got a fight to win?”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Phoenix/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Somethin' Like Fire</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p>
  <em>“One enemy remaining.”</em>
</p><p>Those words would have been more reassuring if that single remaining enemy hadn’t just incapacitated three of your teammates, including Sage, who’d you’d seen go down just minutes ago. The wounds you sustained in an earlier scuffle with Breach and Omen weren’t enough to take you down, but they still ached and throbbed painfully, leaving you with a longing for the healer’s presence and the knowledge that if you did have to fight, you’d be far from your best.</p><p>You don’t know who else is down - the earlier blasts from Breach had damaged your gauntlet computer, leaving you unable to see your mini map or your team status, and right now you were just hoping that whoever your remaining teammate was, they could take down your last opponent before they found you. </p><p>Especially since you can already hear all the imminent yelling from Raze if you both lost to a single enemy.</p><p>With that thought on your mind you move forward with another pained sigh, slipping through the narrow stone corridors and keeping a ready grip on your worn Shorty gun, briefly noting to yourself that you were due for a weapon upgrade soon, but you won’t let your mind wander too far since there was still an enemy out there. Judging by the silence still around you, your remaining teammate hadn’t found them either.</p><p>If nothing else there was still some hope of finding the spike - the enemy team had yet to plant it, thanks to a well-aimed shot from Nova taking out their spike carrier early on in the fight. But if they tried to set that off instead of going after the two of you-</p><p>A sudden pulse of energy across your shins slows you down, literally, and your computer may be down but you swear you can still hear the automated warning taunting in the back of your mind: <em>Location revealed.</em></p><p>You curse aloud. Of course it would be Cypher.</p><p>The slowing effects of the trapwire are brief but still enough for him to step into position, and you stumble back with a yell of pain when a rain of bullets fly past you. Thankfully you’re quick enough to dodge the attempted head shots but one of the projectiles slices deeply along your side, and you throw yourself behind the nearest crate for cover with another pained cry. </p><p>The firing stops, giving you a moment to catch your breath but you know you only have seconds before he deploys his cyber cage, or a well-placed spycam shows Cypher just how close to defeat you are.</p><p>“You should just come out and accept your fate!” Cypher’s voice calls out, though not nearly as taunting as you expected it to be. “Nothing stays hidden from me!”</p><p>“I’d hate to make this boring for you!” you call back, gritting your teeth through the pain as you sit up, holding your gun at the ready and trying to figure out the next move. You’ve run out of smog emitters so there was no chance of just blocking his vision and making a run for it, and you doubt the deep, bleeding graze on your side would let you run very far anyway. Your other abilities could buy you some time but nothing else; aside from your Shorty, the fight against Omen had drained all of your damage-dealing.</p><p>Cypher’s footsteps are loud in the otherwise silent area, and you know that you can only hear them because he wants you to. He’s got the upper hand and he knows it, so you just hope that right now, your last teammate is gaining some sort of advantage for their own imminent fight with him. </p><p>“There you are.” Cypher suddenly purrs somewhere behind you, followed by the brief cock of a gun, but before you can even turn around you hear his surprised cry, and look back just in time to see a wall of fire burst up from the ground a few yards between both you and Cypher. </p><p>You turn away from the initial blast of light and heat that the flaming wall brings, but just as quickly your shoulders slump with a heavy relief. Light footsteps approach you, but these footsteps are warm and familiar, and you smile brightly as Phoenix strides around the nearby corner and into your view.</p><p>Not that you’ve never been happy to see him, but right now.. Fuck, you were so happy to see him.</p><p>“Sittin’ around playin’ with Cypher when we’ve still got a fight to win?” Phoenix asks, though his grin ruins his attempts to sound reprimanding, before his expression shifts into one of concern when his eyes wander over you to take in the visible damage. “Can you keep fightin’, love?”</p><p>You try to sit up, wanting to fight alongside Phoenix and just get this damned day over with, but your bleeding side screams in protest and you fall to one knee with sharp cry, gripping at the wound and trying to ignore the white hot pain that shoots through your body at the movement. A resigned sigh leaves you, frustration and pain bleeding into your tone. “I.. I don’t think so..” </p><p>“Just keep ya head down then.” Phoenix replies, kneeling down in front of you to cup a hand to your cheek. You lean into the gesture, sighing at the warmth that floods through you at his touch, and Phoenix leans in to press a quick kiss to your lips that leaves you wanting more before he stands, giving you a wink. “I’ve got this.”</p><p>He’s gone before you can protest, snapping a pair of flare orbs around the corner as he goes and within seconds the sound of fighting starts back up, the familiar whoosh of Phoenix’s flames and taunting beeps of Cypher’s tech filling the air along with bullets raining from both sides. </p><p>You try to power through the pain burning through you, not wanting to sit on the sidelines while Phoenix did all the work, and you rifle through your various belt pouches with the hand not trying to stem the slow but steady bleeding from your side. Empty emitters, a few tracking darts, and.. Yes! Your fingers curl around the familiar shape of a single flashbang grenade, nearly lost in the depths of your ammo pouch.</p><p>Another sudden whoosh of flames causes you to look out from behind your cover, seeing Cypher just barely skirting around a pool of fire that your partner had thrown at him, but then your chest clenches at the sight of the dark red stain you can see on the back of Phoenix’s shoulder now. A clean shot, not enough to take him out of the fight just yet but you can see that Phoenix has slowed down significantly, his movements stiff and pained while Cypher is still as light on his feet as ever. </p><p>Your partner needed an advantage, now, and you stagger out from behind your cover, trying to ignore the way your vision is blurring at the edges. The wound in your side isn’t bleeding much anymore, but that definitely wasn’t a good sign.</p><p>“Phoenix!” you call out and when he whirls around you give him a glimpse of the grenade in your hand, only a split second but long enough for him to duck down and shield his eyes as you throw it up into the air, turning away just as it detonates and fills the area with a blinding flash of light.</p><p>You both hear Cypher curse aloud, momentarily stunned even through his mask and that brief moment is all Phoenix needs to leap from his cover, gun locking on to Cypher’s blinded form before he pulls the trigger.</p><p>
  <em>“Defenders Win.”</em>
</p><p>Cypher hits the ground, incapacitated and defeated, and you drop back against the crates behind you again, though your eyes don’t leave Phoenix’s approaching form as he rushes over towards you, kneeling down with another look of wide-eyed concern. </p><p>“That’s my boy..” you praise with a soft smile and he tries to smile back but his expression quickly morphs into one of worry, pulling your hand away to look at the wound on your side and you see him wince. Again, probably not a good sign, but instead of dwelling on that your gaze falls to the wound on Phoenix’s shoulder. “You’re hurt too..”</p><p>“Just a little shot, I’ll live.” Phoenix says, looking for a moment like he was going to shrug before thinking better of it. “We need to get you patched up first.”</p><p>“You’re hurt..” you just repeat, blinking slowly and struggling to open your eyes again, though you jolt a little when Phoenix suddenly shakes your arm. </p><p>“C’mon, keep it together, love.” Phoenix urges, trying to lift you up with his uninjured arm but you cry out sharply at the movement and he quickly lowers you down again so you can lean back, taking some pressure off of your side. You can see frustration burning along with the dull pain in his eyes now - if he weren’t injured he would probably insist on carrying you out. </p><p>He might still try - he could be so stubborn when he wanted - but you weren’t going to let that happen. You weren’t going to risk him hurting himself further just because you’d gotten yourself injured like some rookie agent instead of-</p><p>The sharp sound of your name suddenly pulls you back into focus and you raise your head to see Phoenix staring at you, brow furrowed deeply, and it’s then that you notice the GPS device in his hand. When had he grabbed that?</p><p>“Extraction team’s on the way..” Phoenix says, giving your shoulder another shake to try and keep you awake but it’s getting harder by the second. “They’ll have Sage back on her feet in no time and she’ll get you all fixed up, yeah?”</p><p>“Y-yeah, sure..” your words are slow and slurred in spite of your efforts to stay focused like he'd said, but your vision just starts to blur even more, black shadows creeping along the edges. You look up at Phoenix, managing to give him a shaky smile as he holds your gaze. “Thanks for saving the day, Nix..”</p><p>“Always happy to come in clutch for you, babe, you know that.” Phoenix says, managing another shaky smile but you see his expression drop just before your vision starts to black out completely. He shakes you again, calling your name but it sounds so muffled and faraway, and even the sensation of him gripping your arm is fading.</p><p>But the pain is finally gone, and while that’s not a good thing you still take some comfort in it as everything goes numb and black around you, and the last thought that crosses your mind is that you hope Phoenix will be okay.</p><hr/><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Part 2 coming soon!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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